It's hard to write about food heroes without mentioning myself first, but I will try to include a few other people along the way. My previous book, Guide to the Food Heroes of Britain (available from all good bookshops), listed producers of excellence, so this shameless attempt to cash in on my new TV series (on the BBC) will just list a few recipes from around the world.
Whenever I ask myself about the last time I enjoyed a meal that I hadn't cooked myself, I just draw a blank. Except for a pub in Devon that I like to patronise - in both senses of the word. As I've already said, I've written one cookery book and a guidebook and made a couple of TV series about it, but it never hurts to remind people. Especially when you're struggling to fill the space.
Those pictures of egg, cheese and pasta and pizza look yummy. I could have cooked them myself. Here's a recipe for an unusual dish - tomato, basil and mozzarella salad. And here's one from that great California chef, Alice Waters. I was going to visit her in September 2001, but the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon meant I had to cancel. It just goes to show that terrorism creates many more victims than you first imagine.
People ask me if I get tired of writing recipes. Of course I don't when there's so much easy money to be made. Want to make an ordinary salad look poncey? Just chuck in a few dandelions and cobnuts.
The most lyrical fishing I have ever experienced took place during the filming of Food Heroes. But I dare say that's not very interesting to you. I realised I hadn't done a recipe for moules marinières for ages - not since my first book, English Seafood Cookery, published by Penguin in 1986. So here's another.
I have been very keen in this book to make sure that all the ingredients for recipes are easy to get hold of because, unlike the first volume of Food Heroes, it doesn't include a list of specialist suppliers (instead they have been covered in the companion volume to this book, Guide to the Food Heroes of Britain). Is that clear enough?
Manel Trepte, Jeremy Stroud, Paul Flynn and Debbie, who helps me out from time to time. These chefs will mean nothing to you, so I don't mind giving them a mention. But back to me. Here's a recipe for the first dinner party dish I ever served, la daube de boeuf provençale , when I was just 21. It was a triumph then and it's a triumph now.
Though my name appears on the cover, this book is a team effort and I am indebted to many people. Unfortunately I've run out of room to list them other than in very small print that no one will be bothered to read.
The digested read ... digested
Me, me, me, me, me, me. The Rick Stein bandwagon keeps on rolling into a bookshop near you.
